Since the United States Surgeon General first warned the American public of the deleterious effects of tars and nicotine in tobacco smoke, the cigarette industry has attempted to reduce the harmful effects thereof.
Menthol has long been known to mitigate the toxicity of both tars and nicotine, and is itself non-toxic and beneficial to the mucous membranes of the oral and nasal cavities. In view of these properties, the cigarette industry was quick to add menthol to the cigarette tobacco and consumers were equally quick in their acceptance and purchase of mentholated cigarette. However, it has since been discovered that the menthol, when burned, not only loses its salutory effect, but produces a deadly gas more destructive than the original tars and nicotine.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a menthol cartridge for use with cigarettes, wherein the menthol within the cartridge is not burnt, but is inhaled with the cigarette smoke.
Filtering represents another well recognized method of reducing the tar and nicotine inhaled by the smoker. For the past two decades cigarette companies have incorporated filter tips on their cigarettes to reduce inhalation of harmful fumes. And disposable filter cartridges adapted for location in cigarette holders are commercially available. See Shaw's U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,180 and Gerard et al's U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,869 as state of the art examples of cigarette holders with disposable filters. While these prior filters reduce the quantity of tar and nicotine entering the lungs, they do not chemically react with the fumes to reduce the deleterious effects thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disposable cartridge for a cigarette holder, the cartridge being filled with menthol crystals for reacting with burning tobacco fumes so as to mitigate the toxicity of tar and nicotine inhaled by the cigarette smoker.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize this invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of the specification.